Direct sowing-Alternate Method of Transplanting Rice

Rice (Oryza sativa) is the major food crop in terms of production and economy and grown in all ecological regions of India. Rice is cultivated traditionally through transplanting of 20-25 days old seedling in the country. Due to unavailability of suitable technology for rice cultivation, there is a huge yield gap in rice production. Country has made target of self-sufficiency in rice production. This target can be achieved through adoption of Direct seeded rice cultivation technology of rice cultivation which also helps to adapt in the climate change scenario. Due to issues of water scarcity and expensive labour, direct seeded rice cultivation technology is adopting worldwide. To study the direct sowing of rice to overcome the difficulty of scarce and costly labor in transplanted rice, KVK Guntur has conducted an OFT in Guntur district. The study was carried out in two villages of Guntur district namely Morampudi and Kanteru villages in the years 2019-20 and 2020-21. From each selected village, 5 farmers practicing DSR and 5 farmers practicing Conventional Transplanting method during the same season were selected. The average yield was considerably high in TR (67 qtl/ha) compared to DSR (66 qtl/ha) method of cultivation. The total cost of cultivation in DSR was estimated to be Rs.47,000 per hectare. The total cost of cultivation in TR was estimated to be Rs. 53,000 per hectare. DSR with suitable conservation practices has potential to produce slightly lower or comparable yields as that of TPR and appears to be a viable alternative to overcome the problem of labor and water shortage. Despite controversies, if properly managed, comparable yield may be obtained from DSR compared with TPR.